Overview: Long-Term Partnership for Greater Good
Since 2017, Rocket House Pictures has produced fundraising and impact videos for Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County. The work has continued across changing campaigns, Club members and fundraising events because each film starts with the same question: What does the audience need to understand about the young people behind the organization’s mission?
The answer cannot come from a list of programs alone. Donors need to hear from Club members, families and staff. They need to see the places where young people spend their afternoons and summers. Most of all, they need enough context to understand what access to a Club can change in a child’s day and future.
Our partnership with the Clubs has produced a growing library of films used at fundraising events, online and across the organization’s communications. The 2024 film premiered at Elegant Night, the Clubs’ largest annual fundraiser, in front of more than 350 community leaders.
The challenge: make the work visible to people outside the Club
Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County provides after-school and summer programs for young people across northern Colorado. The organization describes its mission as helping young people reach their full potential as productive, caring and responsible citizens. Its history and program overview also explains the practical need behind that mission: many children spend the hours after school without adult supervision, and families need accessible places where children can learn, build relationships and receive support.
Those services are easy to describe in a brochure. Their effect on an individual child takes more time to understand.
The Clubs needed fundraising videos that could introduce the organization to new donors while still feeling honest to the members and staff who knew it well. Each film also had to work in a busy event setting, where a room’s attention can shift quickly and a long explanation can lose the audience.
The approach: listen for the story before filming it
Our process begins before the cameras arrive. We work with the Clubs to identify members, alumni, parents and staff who can speak from direct experience. Interview questions are written to invite specific memories rather than broad statements about the organization.
That difference matters. A person recalling the first day they walked into a Club gives the audience a scene. A staff member explaining how a child changed over the course of a school year gives the audience a point of comparison. These details are the foundation of our approach to storytelling through video production.
We have sometimes used ideas from the Hero’s Journey to organize those interviews, but the young person is never treated as a marketing device. Their choices, challenges and progress remain central. The Club and its staff appear as guides and sources of support.
That structure also avoids a common problem in nonprofit videos: presenting a participant only through hardship. Club members have humor, opinions, skills and plans of their own. The films need space for those parts of their personalities.
Production: interviews supported by daily life at the Clubs
On filming days, our crew records interviews alongside activities, conversations and the small transitions that make a Club feel lived in. This b-roll gives editors visual evidence for what an interviewee describes. A comment about belonging can be followed by members greeting one another. A discussion about mentorship can sit beside a staff member helping with homework or coaching an activity.
Music supports the pace, but it does not tell the audience how to feel. The edit earns emotion through the words and behavior of the people on screen. Graphics are used when a statistic or call to action needs to be understood quickly.
Because the partnership has lasted for years, the production process is also more efficient. The Clubs know what information our team needs before filming. We understand the organization’s language, event calendar and approval process. That shared history leaves more time for the interviews and the details that distinguish one year’s film from the next.
The films: a record of the Clubs across several years
The video library shows how the organization and its members have changed over time. Here are a few of our favorite examples.:
2024 Fundraising film
The 2024 film follows several generations of Club members and focuses on acceptance, growth and opportunity. It premiered on April 27, 2024, at Elegant Night in Greeley. A public announcement about the premiere, also published by KDVR, confirmed that the event was the organization’s largest fundraiser and was expected to bring together more than 350 community leaders.
2022 Impact video
The 2022 film gives returning Club members a chance to show how they changed since joining the Club. Interviews and observational footage connect the Clubs’ broader mission with the routines and relationships members experience each day.
2020 Promotional film
Created during a year when families and youth-serving organizations faced unusual pressure, the 2020 film documented the Clubs’ continuing role in the community. The Clubs report that they remained open to care for children of essential workers and distributed more than 81,000 meals to local families that year.
2017 Brand film
The film that started it all. Rocket House Pictures asked Emily Stanfill, the Club’s former operations director, what she wanted the video to look and feel like if there were no limitations. Her answer was an inspirational anthem with the energy of a music video. Rocket House created exactly that.
The result: a fundraising tradition that keeps growing
Since 2017, the films produced by Rocket House Pictures have helped Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County place Club members, families, alumni, and staff at the center of its fundraising story.
Elegant Night has continued to grow. The organization identifies it as its largest annual fundraiser, with more than four decades of support from donors, sponsors, and local businesses. In 2026, the Clubs reported a record $600,000 raised to support operations and young people across the region.
We have worked with Gio and Jen for the past several years. I greatly appreciate their understanding of the type of videos we are looking to create and willingness to soundboard ideas, to produce the best video possible. Very easy to work with before, during and after video production. Our success in fundraising is largely attributed to their amazing work and beautiful created videos. THANK YOU! --- Travis Hitt VP of Marketing & Engagement at Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County
The films have a clear role within these events. Before the fundraising appeal begins, guests hear directly from the people who know the Clubs best. Their experiences show what the organization provides each day and where donor support goes.
The organization has also expanded during the partnership. A Fort Morgan Clubhouse opened in 2023, followed by a dedicated Teen Center in 2024. Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County now serves approximately 1,000 young people annually across six locations in Weld and Morgan counties.
We have partnered with Rocket House Pictures for many years now, and they truly understand how to capture and tell a story. They are so patient and creative, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with the entire team. Believe me, if you have a story to tell Rocket House Pictures will do it in a creative and beautiful way. Highly recommend! --- Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County
Each film records a different point in that growth. Together, they show years of Club members finding support, staff building new programs, and a community continuing to invest in local youth.
I would HIGHLY recommend Rocket House if you are looking for a full service production company! Gio and the entire Rocket House Pictures company was not only a joy to work with, they made the process moving and unforgettable! The way they involved us in the creative process allowed us to share our ideas, while being guided to know what would have the most impact on our audience. --- Emily Stanfill, Operations Director at Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County
What the partnership taught us about nonprofit fundraising videos
A fundraising film improves when the production team understands the organization beyond a single event. Familiarity helps us ask better follow-up questions, notice changes from one year to the next and plan footage that the client can use in more than one place.
Continuity should still leave room for a new story. Repeating last year’s format can make a film feel interchangeable. Each project needs its own central person, question or moment. That is why our work with the Clubs has lasted: the mission stays consistent, while the people, donors and circumstances keep changing.
Read more about our work with nonprofit fundraising videos, or contact Rocket House Pictures to discuss a fundraising film, impact video or long-term video series.
